Sheffield Showcase

Sheffield Showcase

The Sheffield Showcase with The Source and Sheffield City Council.

The Sheffield Showcase brings together creative talent, retailers and apprentices from Sheffield to animate empty shop units in Sheffield city centre. The project creates an outdoor gallery in the city centre to help maintain/boost footfall, creating a better environment for customers visiting businesses still operating in the area, as well as providing opportunities for future Sheffield retail talent.

As well as animating vacated shop fronts in the city centre the Showcase also provides visual merchandising apprentices with the skills and on the job learning that they need. The apprentices, usually aged between 16-18, the opportunity to develop their visual merchandising skills and use their creativity to produce engaging displays which best promote the businesses’ products or services.

Sheffield Showcase was originally launched in July 2009. The project is funded by Sheffield City Council and co-ordinated by the council in partnership with The Source. The dynamic initiative offers a platform for local businesses and creative individuals to contribute to the improvement of the city by showcasing their wares within the window spaces. The displays also present up and coming Sheffield retail students with the chance to develop their skills within a genuine retail environment.

The Source curate each window space through their visual merchandising scheme alongside Sheffield artists, designers and retailers. Combining new talent with existing retail expertise, it has already provided a benchmark that other towns and cities have followed. The Showcase constantly evolves. Longer term it is hoped the Showcase model/partnership will move on as redevelopment begins and be used to address other areas in transition in the City Centre. Anyone with an idea is being encouraged to submit it to the Source for consideration.